Farmington Schools History Published In Quarterly

FARMINGTON -- Farmington's first students sat on split-log benches with no backs. Their school, called Ebenezer Meeting House, was a one-room log cabin with a fireplace, located at the end of Lossing Street, north of the school district's current bus parking lot.

The cabin was built in 1834 on property owned by the Buchanans, which is meaningful to Janie Steele, whose maiden name is Buchanan. Steele, a City Council member, and her daughter, Dee Ness of Farmington, serve on the city's Historical Preservation Committee and have been researching Farmington history for more than two years now.

A History of Farmington Schools, written by Steele and Ness, can be found in the summer issue of Flashback, a quarterly publication published by Washington County Historical Society. A copy of Flashback is available at Farmington Public Library, Fayetteville Public Library, Shiloh Museum in Springdale and the Historical Society, 118 E. Dickson St., in Fayetteville.

The 10-page article includes six historical photos. One is a picture of Farmington's second school, called Hawthorn School because of the Hawthorn trees nearby. The second school replaced Ebeneezer Meeting House in 1848 and was located near the former Farmington United Methodist Church, north of what is now White Street and near Ridge Drive. The community used this school building, also a log structure, through 1858.

A third Farmington school was built in 1858 on what is now the Farmington Cemetery. This school also was named Ebenezer and the community used it for more than 30 years. The Flashback article includes a photo of the third school with about 55 children standing in front of the structure. Ness and Steele have been able to identify almost all children in the photograph through their research.

In all, Ness said, she and her mother have about 90 historical photos scanned into her laptop computer. Their photos have come from Farmington residents, family members, Shiloh Museum in Springdale, Fayetteville Public Library and the University of Arkansas Library.

"We begged, borrowed and stole pictures from everyone," Steele said.

Farmington students moved into their first brick building in 1891, a two-room school built on land that is still part of the Farmington campus today. A third room was added later to accommodate more students. Farmington built a new high school in the 1920s and in 1928 began the tradition to engrave graduates' names in the school's sidewalks.

The article also includes information about community schools around Farmington. Smaller communities had their own school houses that served children living within three or four miles. Community schools included Cemetery Hill, Walnut Grove, Bethel Grove and Savoy. By 1949, community schools had closed and consolidated with the Farmington School District. The article says that Farmington residents won the fight to keep their own school district in the 1960s, when an attempt was made to annex Farmington into Fayetteville School District.

Ness said they are enjoying the research part of their work. Writing is the hard part, she said, noting the article on Farmington Schools History went through several edits before it was ready for publication.

The committee next will begin working on a history of early churches and cemeteries in Farmington.